The Georgetown Metropolitan

Next week community activist and friend of GM, Ken Archer, will pull up stakes and head west to San Francisco with his wife Veronika and son Martin. He’s explained elsewhere the bittersweet reasons he’s leaving town, but today GM wanted to publicly thank Ken for serving as a role model for what positive community engagement can achieve.

Ken assures GM that he has a real job, with responsibilities and meetings, and reports, and schedules, and all the things that go along with a real job. GM mentions that only because he’s never been able to reconcile that observation with another observation: that Ken has a bottomless supply of passion, energy, and, most importantly, time to dedicate to causes and issues that he truly believes matter.

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Photo by internetarchivebookimages.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• 140 years yesterday Patrick Healy became President of GU, the first African American to be president of a white school.
• Where to eat by the water.

3500 block of Water St.

GM received a tip from reader and neighbor, Michael Garawski, about the nifty things you can see when you plug Georgetown-related terms into the Google Trends engine. For those unfamiliar, this program allows you to type in a search phrase and see how many people have searched for the term over time.

For instance, when you search for “Georgetown – Neighborhood in DC” you get this chart:

What you see is a steadily declining rate of searches from 2004 to early 2010. But then it rocketed up in July 2010. Guess what happened that month? DC Cupcakes debuted. GM has always wondered why the reality show based on Georgetown Cupcake wasn’t just called Georgetown Cupcake. Despite this decision, it seems pretty clear that people were able to make the connection from the show to the neighborhood.

That second peak a little doesn’t quite match up with the debut of the second season of the show (which started a few month before) but perhaps some credit can be given to the show.

The interesting thing is if you just search for “Georgetown”, you get a different chart:

It also is a generally downward trending line, but the peaks have a different explanation. The first one is March 2007: the last time the Hoyas made the Final Four.

The other two peaks also relate to GU. The first lines up with the infamous brawl between GU mens basketball team and a professional Chinese team in August 2011. The second lines up with GU’s March 2013 early round loss to Florida Gulf Coast. Continue reading →

Photo by Will Marlowe.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Three Sisters Bridge, and other massive transportation projects that never came to pass.
• Checking in on the homeless teen who has just enrolled with a full ride at GU.

1500 block of 28th St.

Lieutenant John Hedgecock, who has overseen Georgetown’s police district for years, has been transferred to the Chevy Chase DC neighborhood. His replacement is Lieutenant John Knutsen. Lt. Hedgecock sent the following letter around to individuals in the neighborhood:

All,

As some of you are already aware I have been transferred to another Patrol Area in the Second District  (PSA 201).  This transfer was effective July 13 and was made to address some operational needs within the District.  Lt. John Knutsen has taken over as the new PSA 206 Lieutenant.  We are very fortunate to have Lt. Knutsen and I’m certain he will provide you with the very best in police service. To ensure a smooth transition I have been working with John ensuring he has a complete understanding of all the communities concerns.  Please join me in welcoming Lt. Knutsen.  He can be contacted at john.knutsen@dc.gov, and by phone at 202-438-8486.

I would like to express my sincere appreciation to all of you for the support you have provided me over the last five years.  During my career I have had the opportunity to work in all wards of the city.  I have never experienced a community such as Georgetown that has so many community and business leaders who work tirelessly to assist MPD in maintaining order and making your community safe.  The assistance you  provided me was invaluable in our efforts to keep everyone safe.   Thank you all very much!

Remember, your patrol area is served by some of the best Patrol Officers and Supervisors that the department has to offer. I was very fortunate to have worked with them. I’m sure you will continue to work with them as you did with me.  Thank you all again and please don’t hesitate to contact me if I can ever be of any assistance,  John

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Image of Aqueduct Bridge by InternetArchiveBookImages.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Should Georgetowners be flattered or insulted that the newest incredibly overpriced fitness fad decided to locate somewhere convenient to Georgetown?
• 1500 block of Wisconsin about to get a lot more Japanese.

2900 block of O St.

Yesterday, GM discussed the success story that is the sycamore down his block. But today he’s here with some more depressing news: we’ve got a lot of work ahead of us to restore the canopy.

Above is an aerial photo of GM’s block today. You can see it’s got a decent canopy of trees on it and the connecting blocks. But compare it with this aerial photo of the same block taken in 1951 (curtesy of the fascinating historicaerials.com):

Just look at those trees! It’s like a rain forest compared with today. Browse other blocks on the site, you’ll see it’s mostly the same story: there were simply way more trees back then.

There are some possible reasons for why it was so great back then and not so great now. First of all, much of Georgetown (particularly north Georgetown like this block) didn’t get built out until the 1880s to 1890s. By the 1950s, the original generation of trees planted along the new houses would all be mature and quite big. It’s sort of like the first blooms of a rose bush in the spring: they all burst at once. Eventually this generation of trees gets sick and dies off at different points. Either they get replaced with new trees, or they don’t get replaced at all. Either way, it leaves gaps in the canopy. Continue reading →